Romney Apologizes For Being A Bully In High School; Accused Of Ridiculing Gay Students

Among his pranks was allegedly leading a group of men to push and hold down a student, presumed to be gay, while cutting off his hair.

“Back in high school, I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said in an interview on Fox News Radio today.

According to a Washington Post story, Romney had issues with the appearance of a particular student.

“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about [John] Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled…

A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.

Lauber wasn’t the only seemingly gay student ridiculed by Romney.

In an English class, Gary Hummel, who was a closeted gay student at the time, recalled that his efforts to speak out in class were punctuated with Romney shouting, “Atta girl!” In the culture of that time and place, that was not entirely out of the norm. Hummel recalled some teachers using similar language.